Odisha government will provide 75 acre of land for establishment of Bay of Bengal Coastal Observatory in Ganjam. “The Odisha government has taken the initiative to allot 75 acre land for establishment of Bay of Bengal Coastal Observatory,” Naveen Patnaik said during the foundation day of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar (IIT-BBS). “This will help people of the state to get advanced information on natural calamities like tsunami and cyclones,” he added. The coastal observatory will be the first-of-its-kind in the country, he said, adding the Union ministry of earth sciences is also involved in the project.

The proposed observatory will be able to predict tropical cyclone, rise in sea level and extreme weather events, apart from monsoon variability, regional climate variability and other extreme conditions. Such a centre assumes significance especially because the state is prone to natural calamities. Apart from observing, analysing and disseminating geo-physical data about the ocean, the centre aims to generate highly-skilled and competent human resources for research in the fields of earth system sciences and climate change.